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Topic: Asparagus harvest (Read 2496 times)

I have finished the asparagus harvest. The asparagus on a mature patch (over 3 years old) has a window for picking of about 6 weeks or so. Basically, when the spears are coming up pencil thin, the picking should stop. The thin spears must grow up into the beautiful fern that nourishes the roots for the next year.

The ferns are now flowering and the beneficial insects are having a hay day gathering the pollen that these flowers provide, the honeybees love it too.

The picture shown below was the first of the harvest. I picked asparagus about 10 more times during this period, so the harvest was about 10 times the amount that you see in the bucket. The longest spears that I gathered were probably about 18 inches long. I bend the spears over when I pick, they break off where the spear is tough, the spear that I take for the gather is completely 100% tender. I cut the remainder of the tough stem below ground level. That helps to keep the asparagus beetle at bay, asparagus has a very strong smell and I believe that they would find the plants even faster with a cut spear sticking out of the ground. Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Asparagus is surely one of my favorites! I like to slow cook it in a large pan in olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and salt (sometime a small shot of garlic powder).

Keep them cooking until tender with a snap and nicely brown. It is strange though, my wife won't touch asparagus eventhough I cannot think of a single other veggie she doesn't love. She'll eat olives and capers and celantro, and everything else - go figure.

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Cindi, Here in Georgia we harvest our asparagus in early spring shortly after Easter. I have been trying for three years to get a bed started. I am trying more fertilizer, lime, and supplemental watering during the summer. My largest spears are only the size of a pencil and not enough at one time for a meal. They look better this summer than they have in the past. We will see next spring.

Wish I were vacationing in B.C.

Steve

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Steve, and to any others that love to grow and eat asparagus. Reinbeau and I had a thread going some time ago about how to nurture asparagus. Go back into the forum and do a search, there is lots of talk about it.

My asparagus spears begin to mature at the end of April, I pick it though the month of May and well into the month of June. I have not picked now for about 2 weeks (not to say that I won't sneak some of the new little shoots that come up all summer for a tiny little snack, raw is really good too).

Asparagus is an interesting plant to grow. Not a single spear should be harvested for the first three years of the plants lives. After that, the harvest will be bigger and bigger each year. My asparagus patch is now 15 years old. It is a long term big picture with this plant, but I have had my years of patience and now I revel in this beauty.

When I get back to B.C. (on Thursday), I will take some pictures of how my patch looks now. The spears have long since turned into the beautiful airy foliage that is depictive of the asparagus fern, the houseplant that many people grow. The asparagus will continue to grow in heighth and bushiness. Little spears keep coming all summer long, and the female plants drop seed that grows new little babies each year.

It is the male plants that have the heavy thick spears that rise their beautiful stalks to feed us human beings. The female plants are much more slender. Sounds somewhat like the human race, now doesn't it.

Every year the stalks of the asparagus get stronger and stronger, and even the female plants' spears are quite thick. It just takes time.

Asparagus loves to be nurtured in deep beds, with really good drainage and lots of irrigation. They say that 2 inches of water a week is a fine example of the needs of this plant, in the human garden. In the wild, the plants probably don't get watered as well as we can, but they still grow in copious amounts.

Asparagus also loves, and I mean loves --- heavy feeding, really heavy. I always put lots and lots of compost on top of my patch, lots of turkey manure as well, this makes the plants grow and grow and grow.

If you are growing asparagus, remember the feeding, the most important part, and the deep bed for their crowns that live about 2 feet underground to have lots of room to grow and spread.

Be patient, resist the urge to pick those beautiful little spears that come up in early spring during the first three years of their life. It will pay off in the future. Enjoy.

John, that sounds wonderful how you cook asparagus. Yum, yum.

My husband always complains of a very strong scent when he eats asparagus and then has to pee. I have heard many people speak of this, but never have actually noticed it myself. Strange world that we live in, eh? Have a wonderful day, great life, love this life we're livin'. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

It turns out I have about twenty in my yard. I thought they were weeds, but left'em b/c the bees were thick on the litle flowers. I never knew what wild aspargus loked like. Cant wait until next spring so I can have some fresh aspargus. Yummy!

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My husband always complains of a very strong scent when he eats asparagus and then has to pee. I have heard many people speak of this, but never have actually noticed it myself. Strange world that we live in, eh? Have a wonderful day, great life, love this life we're livin'. Cindi

This is caused by the lack of a protein that breaks down the chemical that causes the odor. Some people don't make the protein, and thus notice the odor, others make the protein, so the chemical breaks down in the body and is not excreted in the urine.

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Moonshae. Now that is a totally interesting little bit of information. Where did you get this understanding from? I love to hear strange answers to strange questions, good for you!!!! Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service